A man who violently carjacked a young woman in the middle of the night and drove her vehicle across central Queensland has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Cody John Schloss, 27, formerly of Stafford Heights, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Tuesday to one count of robbery with personal violence and one count of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
The court heard Schloss approached a 19-year-old woman in the Brisbane suburb of Taringa at 1.45am on April 10, 2022 as she was getting into her family's LandCruiser four-wheel drive after finishing work.
Prosecutor Emily McGregor said Schloss asked the woman for directions before wedging himself between the vehicle and its driver's door.
"He grabbed her around the throat and squeezed her throat, making it hard to breathe. She pushed on her car horn to draw the attention of anyone on the street," Ms McGregor said.
Schloss pulled the woman out of her car by the legs, threw her onto the ground and grabbed her by the throat again.
"She tried to kick him and he then used both his hands to strangle her," Ms McGregor said.
The woman was this time completely unable to breathe and poked Schloss in the eyes, causing him to stop and instead pick up her car keys and get into the LandCruiser.
Schloss choked the woman for the fifth time when she unsuccessfully tried to stop him driving away in her vehicle.
The woman was treated in hospital for injuries including bruising to her lower back, and multiple abrasions around her neck, chest, back and right hand.
"Whilst the offending was opportunistic, there was a degree of wickedness in that (Schloss) asked her for directions and she tried to help him and he attacked her," Ms McGregor said.
Schloss was arrested with the stolen LandCruiser two days later after visiting a friend in central Queensland.
Schloss's barrister, Patrick Wilson, agreed that his client had committed a serious offence but he also had a difficult background due to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Mr Wilson said Schloss had been doing better and maturing while in custody taking his medication, working as a unit cleaner for the remand centre and completing a course on the construction industry.
"He has remorse ... he has spoken of how he would feel if this happened to his mother, he said he was disgusted with himself," Mr Wilson said.
Judge Paul Smith said Schloss had targeted a vulnerable person and it was lucky the victim's injuries were not worse.
"There seems no doubt that psychiatric conditions had led to this offending," Judge Smith said.
Judge Smith said Schloss's offending was opportunistic and motivated by a belief that he would be left homeless in Brisbane and needed to steal a car and drive to central Queensland where he had found paid work in the past.
Schloss was given a parole eligibility date in October this year due to spending the previous 462 days in custody.
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